Lurkers
Lurkers Common Names: Blackfish, Northsailers Location: Primarily the Arctic Ocean, but they have been found further south where the waters are cold such as Northern Europe, The Pacific Northwest and California, Japan, and Canadian waters. Physical Description Size/Weight: ~15-21 feet. ~950-1500 lbs. Lurkers are a rare sight south of the arctic circle due to normally being a deep water predator. Their smooth bodies are adapted to the harsh cold of their homes and generally shows a slow speed combined with seemingly dull senses, but this is merely a ruse put forth by lurkers in order to slip close for the kill. The sleek black bodies of the Lurkers have a distinct advantage in their nocturnal home, seamlessly blending into the black waters far below. Their hide has been described as tough enough to blunt most cutting weaponry. The thicker hide also reduces the effectiveness of pressure based weaponry. Other reports have also denoted that Lurkers are capable of glowing a faint blue-green or turquoise. This most likely serves to bait prey in or maybe summon potential mates. Later investigation showed that the glow originates from patches along the lateral lines and small patches just anterior of the dorsal fins as well as around the mouth. Another interesting adaptation Lurkers flaunt is a set of four photoreceptors that are trained directly upwards (FIGURE 1). Dissection has shown the receptors are directly linked to the occipital lobe and the portion of the brain in charge of feeding. The Lurkers’ jaws are a wider frame and have been described as being circled by glowing lips, but more research is needed (FIGURE 2). These wide jaws and the interesting layout of the teeth make Lurker bite easy to identify. The top jaw has one tooth shape while the lower jaw has a second shape (FIGURE 3). The lower teeth are crisscrossing rows of serrated saws (FIGURE 4A) for slicing away meat. The upper teeth are vertical spikes lined by several barbs (FIGURE 4B) to pin prey into place. This leads to Lurkers biting and then rolling back and forth to tear away whole chunks of flesh from dead creatures larger than themselves. Lurkers seem to have an incredible longevity for life, some specimens captured at approximately 2320 still bearing Old World tags. This means that some Lurkers were around the day the bombs fell. Pre-war archives draw links between most species of sleeper sharks with the strongest being the Greenland Shark. Behavior: Normally listless and slow. Lurkers show no real change in behavior at any time of the day, most likely due to their lonely lives in near-total darkness. Little is known about the actual breeding habits and true life cycle of Lurkers due to their tendency to stay far from our dive teams and a seemingly isolationist lifestyle dragged out across the centuries. Most encounters result in extreme damage to the Lurkers via our dive teams’ weaponry. As for hunting, Lurkers have proven capable of accelerating to speeds needed for catching prey unawares, but they can’t sustain this speed on a level like Cruisers. They go about hunting in generally the same method as anything else, slowly passing along their way with general disinterest. This is merely a ruse because soon after, they let out all their speed in a short all-or-nothing dash. Diet: The stomach contents of Lurkers shows a hypercarnivore’s diet of almost all meat, but some theorize that a good chunk of the meat found is scavenged from corpses that sink down into darkness. Predators: Confirmed predators include Wretches, schools of Spooks, and the mighty Leviathan. -Recorded by Agent Valentine. Category:Fauna